Sunday, August 29, 2010

Friday Recap

We'll begin today then with a recap of Friday nights games:
-- Falcons 16 @ Dolphins 6:
A better outing from the Falcons, but they still struggled. Matt Ryan was 13/26 for 103-yards, a TD and an INT. Back up Chris Redman did ok, with 5/8 for 56-yards and a TD. On the ground the Falcons fared a little better than usual, with Turner leading the charge with 16 carries for 47-yards. Bizarrely both Jason Snelling and JeriousNorwood carried 5 times for 22-yards in a desperate effort to ensure that neither of them upstaged the other. Defensively, LB Curtis Lofton stood out once more with six tackles and five assists, while DTKroyBiermann added another sack to his pre-season tally.
For the Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne actually looked ok in the pocket, finishing 10/22 for 123-yards and an INT. Chad Pennington; 7/14 for 62-yards. Pat White; 4/4 27-yards. Brandon Marshall led the Dolphins receivers with 3 catches for 51-yards. Most depressing for Miami fans will be the apparent abduction of their running game from last season. Ronnie Brown finished the night with 8 carries for 9-yards, with his longest run being 6-yards. At least Vontae Davis provided some hope on the defense by turning in seven tackles and a forced fumble.
-- Redskins 16 @ Jets 11:
Beware the Grossman! Well, kind of. 8/16 for 111-yards, no TDs. Which pretty much sums up this game until the 4th quarter when Mark Sanchez finally found Dustin Keller. Prior to that it was FG Jets, then FG Redskins, FG 'Skins, then safety Jets (Grossman kicking a botched shotgun snap out the back of the end zone might have been the best play of the game). Another Redskins FG marked all the action in the 3rd, then Sanchez threw a potential game winner, only for Richard Bartel to find Larry Johnson on a screen pass for 15-yards and the TD.
Sanchez himself finished 13/21 for 139-yards, a TD and an INT, and continues to look like anything except a franchise QB. LaDanianTomlinson however was looking like the franchise back of old, taking 11 carries for 86-yards, including a 43-yard scamper that showed off his excellent vision to make the cutback, though his lack of open field speed was also exhibited shortly afterwards. Larry Johnson led a horrid Redskins backfield with 9 carries for 42-yards.
Jets LB Calvin Pace led the Jets D with 5 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble, while LB Perry Riley's 5 tackles and 2 assists were enough to top the Redskins D.
-- Chargers 21 @ Saints 36:
Defense presumably hasn't been high on either teams schedule for the off season. FB Jacob Hester opened the scoring for the Chargers, before Brees picked apart the Chargers with TD passes to Robert Meachem and Devery Henderson (arguably one of the best receiver pairings in the league). Philip Rivers found Malcom Floyd to tie the game before the Saints kicked field goals on either side of half-time to take a 6-point lead.
Then Chris Ivory happened. Taking a short pass 76-yards while running around and even over defenders on his way to the end zone. Chargers QB Billy Volek ran home a TD from 1-yard out, then another Saints FG and finally Leigh Torrence returned an interception 87-yards for the last score.
Rivers finished 16/27 for 167-yards and a TD, but worryingly his back up Billy Volek went 9/21 for 97-yards and 2 INTs. Chargers fans left praying then that Rivers can stay healthy. RB Ryan Matthews had 13 carries for 43-yards. On the other sideline the Saints will be happy as Brees went 18/27 for 240-yards and 2 TDs, while Patrick Ramsey finished 10/18 for 191-yards, 1 TD and 1 INT.
Unfortunately Brees was also at the center of the latest example of how stupid the game is getting in terms of overly protecting Quarterbacks (should just point out, it was in no way Brees's fault). Chargers LB Shaun Phillips came flying in on a blitz from Brees's right hand side and threw an arm out to try and bat the ball as Brees stepped up to throw. Unfortunately Brees was took quick with his release and got the pass off, resulting in Philips patting Brees in the head. This then was flagged; Unnecessary Roughness, Contact to the head of the quarterback, 15-yards.
Fifteen freakin' yards for what was nothing more than entirely incidental contact during a legitimate attempt to make a play on the ball. Where will it end? What the hell was Philips supposed to do? This is ridiculous and this is precisely the sort of thing that the NFL should be doing something about, instead of a**ing around with proposals for the 18-games schedule.
In fact this is probably indicative of why I hate the new proposals so much. There are so many little tweaks that need to be made (*ahem, tuck rule anyone?) that it just makes my blood boil that we're being asked to accept these other proposals in the interest of 'enhancing' the game.
-- Eagles 20 @ Chiefs 17:
The Eagles finished the 1st quarter up by twelve after a TD run from promising back LeSean McCoy and a FG by David Akers. Things were looking good. Then Matt Cassel found Dwayne Bowe in the end zone and Thomas Jones rushed in for a second Chiefs TD. What followed was a nervous wait for Eagles fans till the 4th quarter for Akers to put away another field goal, only for the Chiefs to reply in kind. It then fell to Mike Kafka to find Riley Cooper for an 18-yard score to save the day.
Kevin Kolb finished 11/25 for 103-yards and an INT, and he wasn't even that good. Kafka went 9/13 for 93-yards and a TD. Matt Cassel went 14/23 for 85-yards, a TD and an INT. On the ground the Chiefs trashed the Eagles; Jackie Battle finished with 10 carries for 49-yards, McCluster turned in 8 carries for 47-yards, Jamaal Charles; 6 carries for 40-yards and Thomas Jones; 10 carries for 30-yards and a TD. LeSean McCoy lead the Eagles with 28-yards and a TD off 5 carries.
Brandon Graham and Ernie Sims led the average Eagles D with 4 tackles a piece. LB Demorrio Williams topped the Chiefs much better performance with 5 tackles and and two sacks, closely followed by LB Andy Studebaker who was only one tackle shy of equalling Williams's overall performance. They Chiefs ended with 5 sacks, and the sole Chiefs interception was recorded by Kendrick Lewis (who's on my 2010 rookie watch list).
I'll be back later to look at the results from Saturdays games. Till then,
Have a great day everyone.